Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s World Cup dream may come true
By Adam McGee
As the strength of rival teams continues to diminish, Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s chances of tasting World Cup glory continue to increase.
With less than four weeks remaining to the FIBA World Cup getting underway in China, a clearer sense of how that tournament might shape up is starting to emerge.
The deadline for squads to be finalized has yet to arrive, with training camp for the various national teams just having gotten underway in the past few days, but already there has been no shortage of casualties in terms of high profile withdrawals.
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In terms of star power, this may take some of the overall sheen off of the tournament before it’s even begun, but the reality is it could do wonders in terms of entertainment value and producing an unexpected competitive balance.
With the mass withdrawals that have afflicted the U.S. and Canadian rosters, the leading two superstars in the tournament look set to be Denver Nuggets and Serbia center Nikola Jokic, and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Greek phenomenon Giannis Antetokounmpo.
For both of those players, this event may well open up a significant opportunity to topple the U.S. at a major tournament, something which there tend to be very few opportunities to achieve throughout an international player’s career.
Speaking to FIBA.com on Monday, Antetokounmpo left zero doubt as to just how much representing Greece and challenging for the World Cup means to him:
"“I always feel something special when playing for the national team. When you are starting the tournament and listening to the national anthem, the emotions can’t be described. After the first basket, the first plays, it is an amazing experience and every time I feel as proud as the first time. The feeling of winning with the national team is incredible, and I have said before that I will always be part of the team, as long as I am healthy like this summer.”"
Even more directly, Antetokounmpo proclaimed:
"“I would exchange the MVP title for the gold medal in China.”"
As it stands, Antetokounmpo’s singular, force of nature talent certainly makes a medal seem realistic for Greece, although if it’s to be gold he’ll likely require his teammates to produce some of the best performances of their lives.
Considering Kemba Walker is the only member of the U.S. squad to make an All-NBA team last year, and Khris Middleton and Kyle Lowry join him as the group’s only All-Stars, it would be foolish to simply put the ultimate success beyond Antetokounmpo this summer.
The recent boom in Canadian basketball also caused reason for major attention to be paid to their national team this summer, but with news that Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Andrew Wiggins will be among those not going to China, their stock has taken a major hit.
As has long been the case, Spain and Australia will demand plenty of respect on the international stage, but the absences of Marc Gasol and Ben Simmons, respectively, represent major blows for both.
As I already alluded to, Jokic’s Serbia will have plenty of reason to feel confident, and likely boast a higher quality supporting cast than Greece, with NBA role players such as Bogdan Bogdanovic, Boban Marjanovic and Nemanja Bjelica involved along with prominent former NBAers such as Milos Teodosic and Miroslav Raduljica.
Antetokounmpo will rely on his brothers Thanasis and Kostas, short lived NBA players such as Tyler Dorsey, Kostas Papanikolaou, Georgios Papagiannis, and Nick Calathes, along with a mix of proven veterans and intriguing emerging talent to offer him sufficient support.
Next. Milwaukee Bucks: Potentially busy FIBA World Cup lies ahead. dark
That group coming together to perform is not beyond the realms of possibility, and as Bucks fans already know, it’s foolish to doubt Giannis Antetokounmpo when he puts his mind to something.